Alex,
[...] when I, Verne, Thomas, Jane and many others joined this Board, the home page had many, many other attractions to draw visitors to the site. Jackie's mentioned all that on another thread. This Board was designed to attract wine, food and spirits lovers to a convivial site with both neophytes, experts and all shades in between. We all shared our knowledge with those who came seeking it - you'd be amazed at the depth and breadth of the accumulated knowledge available here (or maybe not). Verne's been close friends with folks like the Wagners, Swans, Dehlingers and a host of others who kick started the California wine industry. Besides being a writer and educator, Thomas has been a grape grower, a vintner and a retaioler. I've been in it since I spent several years working in France and Germany in the earlier 70's. Then there's the likes of Jane, Gil, Carl and a few other oldtimers who altogether contribute hundreds of years of wine knowledge and expertise. Then, of course, there are the kids like Mike who are young and enthusiastic, and contribute amazingly fresh insights here. I have to tell you that I also truly miss all the original denizens [...]

KC...I couldn't have put it better. In this thread, our usually very friendly discussion was side tracked... As a moderator, I have taken the liberty of deleting posts on issues that should be handled offline.

And, as the owner of WINES.COM, I invite anyone with issues about this forum to email me directly... Send your message to jackie@wines.com.

I will take a more active role here on the WineBoard to encourage more participation for the benefit of both long-time users and newcomers. More about this on another post. Thank you for your support.